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Thinking about this month and everything going on within IAMCP, it strikes me that the common thread is transformation. The award season is upon us and partners have been sharing compelling stories about how they have transformed their customers’ businesses. The IAMCP call for Partner Award submissions is now open and I encourage you to also share your successes.

This month’s summaries of the events held in EMEA and India show how the IAMCP regions and chapters are working to transform the memberexperience and the building of P2P relationships.

Our upcoming webinar on diversity will look at “unconcious bias” and what each of us can do to tranform our thinking to realize the full potential of our our business relationships and results.

The dynamic IAMCP WIT community continues to set an example for transformation as it encourages everyone to be bold, pushes forward, and shows us what is possible when we work together.

Transformation is informed by active voices sharing new ideas and approaches. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy reading about what your colleagues around the world are doing and I encourage you to be involved in your local chapter and share your ideas and suggestions.

Last year, over 60 IAMCP members submitted their stories of partnership and success for a chance to win a Partner Award. One of those stories was submitted by IT4You, an international developer of innovative technologies in the field of speech intelligibility and audio signal processing and a member of IAMCP for almost five years.

“The main benefits for IAMCP members are: extensive involvement in partnerships with other companies, sharing knowledge, and wide marketing opportunities.” said Igor Panshin, COO of ITForYou.pro

IT4You partnered with Shanghai-based Ego Industry Development, an advertising agency with many karaoke club clients, to create a solution that enables karaoke contestants to improve the quality of their voice, thereby increasing their chances to win big in an entertainment industry estimated to be worth $10+ billion per year in hardware and software equipment alone.

IAMCP Partner Award ceremony - WPC 2016

Step up and Be Recognized - IAMCP Partner Awards

Do you have a story of success through partnership to share? The call is open for submissions to the IAMCP 2017 Partner Awards. Winners will be announced in July at Microsoft Inspire in Washington DC. Details and criteria are posted on the IAMCP website. The deadline is May 26th so step up and submit your story today!

Prometheus Awards - Nominate Today!

Each year the IAMCP provides an opportunity for Partners to recognize exceptional Microsoft staff who are dedicated to supporting the partner ecosystem. This is an important way to recognize the people that make a real impact. Nominate the Microsoft people who have helped you grow your business before May 19th. Details and nomination information are available here.

Sharing from Sweden

IAMCP Sweden is Europe's largest chapter with about 130 corporate members and more than 340 contacts in the member register.

Mr. Anders Grönlund of Microsoft partner ATEA, has been a member of the IAMCP for many years, representing different partners that have been nominated for and won Partner Awards.

In this video, Anders is interviewed by IAMCP Sweden board member Valentino Berti who is asking Anders to reveal the secrets of how to apply to win a Partner Award. While the main Microsoft Partner award submission deadline for this coming Inspire has passed, the information provided is relevant to other award submissions.

Watch the video so that you are ready for the next opportunity to submit an award nomination.

In addition to award submissions, IAMCP Sweden has thoughts to share on the value of IAMCP and the Microsoft relationship. Check it out in this video of a conversation between Microsoft Sweden COO Erik Bertman and IAMCP Sweden President Bo Bauhn.

IAMCP EMEA: Relationships and Results

Experience shows that the best results are obtained when people meet each other and build trusted, fruitful business relationships. The IAMCP EMEA regional leadership put this to the test when they met at the end of March in Lisboa. The meeting focused on building relationships and on driving results for IAMCP members. They reviewed the following three important areas:

1. Understanding Members
The EMEA Region conducted a survey to understand more about each chapter (for example, number of members, types of partners, how many are doing business on Azure). The details were discussed at the meeting and will be used to understand current state and potential future plans. For more information, please contact Marga Van Laere.

2. Defining Region
One question explored was “What defines the regional level?”. The answer: it is a coordination level. As such, every member in any chapter should be able to participate in initiatives that benefit the ecosystem. It was decided that committees and special interest groups be created at the EMEA level to tackle these topics and that every member be invited to start collaborating. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.

3. Membership Code
It is a privilege and responsibility to serve on the regional board. At the meeting, it was decided that a simple code of conduct be implemented to define clearly the roles and responsibilities of regional board members. If you would like to contribute to creating the code, please contact Olivia Trilles.

You can read more about the meeting in Lisboa in Sergio Baptista’s post.

Mr. Nel spoke about profitability, digital transformation, and scaling customer acquisition. He also spoke about Microsoft’s move to digital. Among the various India-specific initiatives, Pierre highlighted the massive building up of Tele Capability by Microsoft in the country. He mentioned the need for India to go digital and that CSP is the way forward.

Mr. Sudhir Nayar, Microsoft Director SMB Sales India, then spoke of the huge market opportunity with about 5 million SMBs and only 10% into which Microsoft has penetration so far. Also in attendance from Microsoft were Mr. Sanjay Singh, Director Sales Excellence, India, and Mr. Vikram Sharma, Director, SMB, India West.

The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks from Suresh, group photos, high tea, and of course a great opportunity for some partner networking.

Spain Sets Sail for Success

On April 6th and 7th, IAMCP Spain celebrated its 9th Annual Event, in Seville. Eighty IAMCP members and Microsoft executives gathered at this summit titled “Set Sail, Heading - A Successful Future”.

The speaking sessions and workshops during this 2-day event focused on different hot topics including:• Adopting a New Business Model
IAMCP Spain is focused on helping members become stronger through digital transformation and the changes that will bring to its business models. • Modernizing
IAMCP Spain is modernizing to adapt to the new needs of its members. It is having a very proactive debate about current status and the future of the association and is creating new committees and initiatives to ensure they are moving forward.• Adaptability
During the event, IAMCP Spain highlighted the importance of adaptability to strategic changes made by Microsoft and emphasized the positive role the association can play in that.

The event provided partners an opportunity to make connections and hold P2P conversations. Congratulations on a productive, member-focused event!

Spain's 9th Annual Event group photo

Upcoming Events: 100% Empowerment, 0% Guilt

The next diversity webinar co-hosted by IAMCP WIT and IAMCP is on May 4th at 11:00am EST. It will be on the topic of “Unconscious Bias”.

Unconscious bias, and understanding how it gets in the way of building a more diverse workforce, is an important topic. Contextualizing it, however, is not simple. What exactly is unconscious bias, how does it form, and how can we recognize when we are speaking or acting with bias?

Through fun and interactive exercises, this webinar will look deeper into the topic, help participants understand how to recognize their own bias, and provide strategies for responses based on personal style, power dynamics, and physical environment. By understanding bias and how to manage it, we can drive better results and deeper relationships with customers, employees, and partners.

It’s time to start planning for how to maximize your investment in Microsoft Inspire. What better way to do that than to sponsor IAMCP events that put your company’s name directly in front of partners who want to jointly grow business and win deals? Opportunities include:
• International & U.S. board meetings
• U.S. Speakeasy party
• P2P Awards
• International & member meetings
• Women in Technology (WIT)
• Booth community area

Be sure to read the upcoming June edition of the newsletter for a feature on how the IAMCP Seattle chapter is putting P2P into practice and enabling more partners to work together to go after bigger deals. We will talk with chapter board member Ted Green to find out about the lessons they are learning on the road to revenue.

Find out more about how the sharing economy applies to IAMCP partners in this blog post by Dynasource.

IAMCP WIT Update

The IAMCP WIT agenda is shaping up to be a busy one at Inspire. Below is an overview. Stay tuned to future newsletters for updates and specifics.

Sunday, July 9th: Make plans to attend the kickoff on Sunday and participate in the “Mentoring Circles” activity. Sunday evening is the IAMCP Speakeasy Networking Party where there will be a table to recruit new members!

Monday, July 10th: The first official day ends with an IAMCP WIT sponsored “Happy Hour”.

Tuesday, July 11th: An executive male panel will be discussing successful diversity initiatives.

Wednesday, July 12th: The annually sold out charity luncheon featuring Harvest for Humanity, an organization devoted to empowering children. Later in the day is the annual business meeting to discuss goals for the upcoming year.

In addition to the above, throughout the conference there is more fun, presentations, surveys, and contests than ever planned for the “Women at Inspire Booth”—make sure to visit!